Music Strand 3: Singing

This week’s tutorial experience influenced me to teach students about posture prior to singing. A good posture gives us “…a feeling of centeredness, of well-being in ourselves”, hence increases our self-esteem (Nair, 2007, p.81). Thus, in my future classroom, I would get students to practice the pitch accuracy warm-up exercise 1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, with a straight and confident posture.

I was also convinced that young children should be taught to sing in different voice ranges to make singing more appealing. Getting children to sing in similar voice ranges makes it sound plain. Getting them to sing in different voice ranges makes the tune sound grander. This will increase their interest to participate in singing an unknown and uninteresting song. This is something I would get my future students to do. 

Apart from these activities, I would get students to clap the rhythm as they move and sing. According to Blair & McCord (2016), music and rhythm help them in learning and remembering information and skills, which they can apply when learning other curriculum subjects. This will be beneficial when children want to memorize how to spell difficult vocabulary, number patterns and scientific terminologies.   

References
Blair, D. V., & McCord, K. A. (2016). Exceptional music pedagogy for children with exceptionalities: International perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press. 
Nair, G. (2007). The craft of singing. San Diego, California: Plural Publishing. 

Music Strand 2: Performing - Singing and moving

This week's tutorial influenced me that using different types of non-pitched instruments to count the beats is a creative way that will keep students interested. As I personally experienced in the tutorial, getting students to experience what sounds different instrument make, will increase their interest to learn music that they are not fond of.

Another good activity is using pitched instruments to play a four-part harmony, allowing them to discover different pitches these instruments make. This gives them an idea of what instruments they can use to produce sounds that represent certain emotions.

I would use these activities in a reading lesson in my future classroom. After reading a few important scenes from a picture book, I would get them to create a tune by using different pitched instruments, that represent the characters' feelings and the environment that the characters are experiencing. As Juslin states (2013), music is an "...expressive of emotions". It allows children to express their emotions in ways that are difficult for them to express verbally (Kerr, Walsh & Marshall, 2001, as cited in Bahman & Maffini, 2008, p.70). Furthermore, it is a good way to reduce their stress of anxiety after completing challenging tasks (Bahman & Maffini, 2008, p.70).

References
Bahman, S., & Maffini, H. Developing children's emotional intelligence. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Juslin, P. N. (2013). What does music express? Basic emotions and beyond. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(596), 1-14.